(v. 149) 4. Choose ye an island!(v. 150) 5. Fortify it!(v. 151) 6. Dung it about with enginery of war!(v. 152) 7. I will give you a war-engine.(v. 153) 8. With it ye shall smite the peoples; and none shall stand before you.(v. 154) 9. Lurk! Withdraw! Upon them! this is the Law of the Battle of Conquest: thus shall my worship be about my secret house.

(I tap very old diary entries for this one - somewhat edited - because I think they are relevant to this entire processof worship.)

These six verses form an apparent set. Like much of this Book, and especially like the first three verses of the present chapter, they are subject to simultaneous interpretation on several levels; that is, the essential principles here enunciated may exteriorize to various extents, in diverse areas of life, giving an apparency of multiple meanings.

I believe it is a waste of time for political science majors to scour the headlines for a geopolitical interpretation of these verses. Even if a clear “fit” were to be identified, it would be more or less irrelevant. The real and essential meaning must be the inmost; and any geopolitical consequence would be merely the working out of one particular example of a general principle.

The primary meaning, I believe, is very close to that which Fra. O.M. gave as his “mystical meaning” in the Old Comment (O.C.), to wit:

4. [Choose] one of the Cakkrams or nerve-centers in the spine.5. Concentrate the mind upon it.6. Prevent any impressions from reaching it.7. I will describe a new method of meditation by which -8. Ye shall easily suppress invading thoughts.9. May mystically describe this method (e.g. Liber HHH, Section 3).

The deep meaning is a yogic meaning - with several possible variations on a theme. The battle being waged is not of Britain, but is fought within oneself over the integrity and fulfillment of Will.

The “island” may be a chakra, as AC speculated. Even more deeply, being a dry protrusion from a surrounding sea, it is a symbol of Hadit, a point of view within the Great Sea of Nuit. Here is the emergence, or coming forth, of a discrete individual. On a lower plane, it is the formulation of a distinctive ego on similar principles. It basically says, “Determine who you are.”

Translated into life, this also gives practical instruction in getting on. In a particular situation it says to get clear on what you want, what is your point of view or desired outcome or position; and stick to your guns! If it is in accord with True Will, Ra-Hoor-Khuit will fortify you with everything you need to succeed!

“Fortify it!” The ego must be strongly formulated - otherwise, it is a dysfunctional vehicle for the True Will.

The “enginery of war” (which - see verse 3 - especially means “enginery of Light”) is the strength, Light, fortification, power, and all other sources necessary to prosecute the objective. In a major way, we are each the “war-engine” - we are each, with our successive layers or vehicles, complex constructions, “wired” to execute when empowered by adequate energy.

v. 7: Again, “I will give you a LIGHT-engine.” (I also find it curious that 152, the number of this verse with respect to the entire Book, is the value of Concilio Firmata Dei, “Strengthened by God’s Counsel,” the motto of Jeanne d’Arc.)

v. 8: “The peoples” - not “The people” - at first implies a race war. The extra letter is no accident. Still, it clearly represents “the voice of the multitude,” the reactive and invading thoughts and idle thought-formations of which AC spoke. These are the more superficial aspects of our psyches. Our yoga must certainly take us deeper than this!

Ra-Hoor-Khuit (the Holy Guardian Angel) gives all of this help to those who persevere in the way of True Will. His “war-engine” is that inner aid which is best represented by the unfettered majesty of the Sun, before which Sempiternal Splendor the superficial and transient cannot stand.

Verse 9 may indeed describe the method - but it is more likely Liber Turris than Liber H. The “thus” in verse 9 is critical: it confirms that whatever the preceding verses mean, they are the explication of Ra-Hoor-Khuit’s worship “about [His] secret house.” What is that “secret house” if not the heart, the inner and true Vault of the Adepts, the only true “sovereign sanctuary.”

* * * * * * * * * * *

It has been a week and a half since I have worked on the verses of Chapter III of Liber Legis. There is an adjustment taking place. These verses are of an entirely different nature than those of either Cap. I or Cap. II. They are like nothing we have encountered before. And, despite my years of familiarity with this Book, and the particular advantage I might expect from the inner relationship I have forged or found with the Horus archetype, there is no great assistance.

It will, perhaps, be necessary for me to formally invoke Horus for assistance in this. Perhaps the Supreme Ritual will be helpful? [N.B. This was done on the following day, a Tuesday.]

Nuit and Hadit have, so to speak, formulated the two mating triangles; but in Cap. III we encounter Him who is their union in the Sacred Hexagram; and He is immeasurably different than these components. In this archetype of the Holy Guardian Angel there is a distinctive manifestation of one particular illimitable yet unextended aspect of Identity of Self-consciousness (Hadit) experiencing the universe (Nuit); and in doing so, it is both immeasurably limited by its discrete manifestation, and immeasurably empowered to fulfill its distinctive and irreplicable function or destiny.

So much in this Third Chapter seduces its witness to a literal interpretation. Furthermore, AC actualized, i.e., materialized, many of these “prophecies” in his own life. Yet, even knowing this, I continue to be inwardly counseled that I am to view every part of this Book primarily at an archetypal level; and that its outward actualizations are to be valued merely as particular cases of a general meaning. Scanning forward, I find that this is difficult to do, in the verses immediately ahead, without feeling forced or artificial. Artifice is the last thing I want to bring to this particular work. It will be necessary for me to progress step by step, verse by verse; and my intellectual powers often will be the least useful of my tools until the point of actually framing what I learn into expressible language. This has been true frequently in the first two chapters; but I suspect it is to be considerably more so now. This path before me has very much the feeling of an initiation; of entering anew the Path of Darkness - the unknown and unguessed, the “undesired and most desirable.” May I walk this Path under the Shadow of the Wings of that One who goest ever before me, bearing the Light even when I know it not.

* * * * * * * * * * *

In verse 4, “island” has the broader and subtler meaning previously suspected. The word is used broadly in English to mean anything completely isolated in the way that an island is isolated. As such, it means any object of meditation whatsoever, and also is a distinctive metaphor of Hadit’s nature. Interestingly, the Indo-European root is akwa- (the Latin aqua) meaning “water.” All objects of attention, as all individual beings, are isolations within an infinite ocean of consciousness, the Qabalistic Great Sea.

The use of “dung” in verse 6 is interesting. If this is a conventional military usage, the dictionary does not reflect it. The word, of course, refers to feces; and its use as a verb means to pack manure around the base of a thing, as to fertilize a plant. (Its old root means “heap.”) From the Egyptian context of the Book’s dictation, we cannot fail to note the metaphor of the dung beetle, divinized as Khephra, God of Resurrection; and even without this metaphor, we certainly are led to see in this verse the employment of “excrement” - old and outworn forms and energies, qlippothic residue, dead and excreted patterns; in short, any of the refuse or “old (****)” of our psyches — as protection, sustenance, fortification, and fertilizer for each new reality we are building. The Sword of Horus has come to sweep away the old; but every bit of the old has its use in tending the garden of new growth, the garden of the future. Nothing is lost but old forms; the essence is reconverted to new “plantings,” to new growth.

An “engine” is a special kind of “machine” - from Doric Greek machos, “contrivance or means.” A “machine” is thus something contrived - intentionally devised, as by a human mind - to be the “means” to make something happen. Its basic definition is, “any system, usually of rigid bodies, formed and connected to alter, transmit, and apply directed forces in a predetermined manner to accomplish a specific objective, such as the performance of useful work.” From the de-structed old patterns we are to draw raw resources to build up a new, more functional (and thus “better” structure which will serve our present ends in a far superior way.

An “engine” is a particular kind of machine which translates or converts energy into mechanical motion; or, more broadly, any agent, instrument, or means of accomplishment. Its purpose is accomplishment, movement, action. And, again, it is the result of intentional human contrivance, the use of our minds to formulate it; for the root of “engine” is ingenium.

It is a “war” engine = aur engine; so the raw stuff of which this is being built is L.V.X. (“War” comes from the Indo-European root wers-, meaning “to confuse,” i.e., to create a state of chaos and confusion. This brings the added meanings of a force that disables, for a time, the ordering and orderly function of the intellect; which, like the forces depicted in Atu XVI, The Tower, displaces our rigid control of definition for a time, so that we actually can experience what is before us and create or distill a new and superior Order. This is certainly a good description of the effect of this chapter’s construction on my mind. Briah must guide if we are to Understand.)

This “mechanism of confusion” (or “engine of Light”) is to be aimed at the general populace. The instruction is not only to shake up one’s own reality, but also, and perhaps especially, that of the world. Note that this is not by violence except violence of thought, not letting the comfortable rest in their comfort (I am a great believer in the traditional job description of a priest - which I apply to any such spiritual guide - which says that the chief duty is to bring comfort to the discomfitted, and discomfort to the comfortable.), but shaking their foundation a little so that they come awake on their own. The word “stand” in verse 8 means “withstand.”

“Lurk” is to lie in wait, to be still, to be concealed (a meditative method aspiring to Hadit). “Withdraw” is its complement, the pulling out of the concealed; but it also means to retire or isolate oneself. Thus, these two words again describe the basic practice of the yoga of stillness (even as they subtly describe a somewhat more active if esoteric methodology). They are the methods that depict what is really meant by Ra-Hoor-Khuit’s “Battle of Conquest.”